Dunes Realty Screwed Us

Last August, I took my cancer-stricken mother on one final vacation to the beach. As always, we booked our vacation rental in Garden City Beach, SC. We requested a unit with an elevator, as cancer had invaded my mother's spine and she was and is unable to climb stairs.

We had been loyal customers of Dunes Realty of Garden City Beach, SC for over 5 years, and had paid them in excess of $20,000 in direct fees (for vacation rentals and realtor's fees, when we bought and sold our own beach condo). Naturally, we booked this vacation through Dunes Realty, and the rented us a unit they claimed had a functioning elevator.

During the August 2006 rental week, we discovered Dunes has rented us a unit with an elevator that had failed a safety inspection 6 days earlier. Not only was the elevator unsafe, the emergency call button didn't even work. My mom got stranded in the elevator when it stopped working altogether, and had to beat on the doors for an hour before being rescued by the fire department. Exhausted from the experience, she booked the first flight home, and I drove home alone.

To this day, despite our loyalty to Dunes Realty, they have screwed us rotten over and over. They refused to issue any refunds, then reluctantly agreed to a few small, partial refunds after months of arguing, yet each time, they refunded only a portion of what they agreed to. They have lied to us, rented us an unsafe vacation unit, and continue to mess with us and waste our time and energy. For seven months. We are still fighting for a refund.

Short of a lawsuit, which is the last thing you need when you have terminal cancer, and as a last resort, I have posted this web page describing our experiences. I strongly recommend to all readers that they avoid doing any business with Dunes Realty.

Our complaint is simple: We ordered a vacation rental with an elevator. Dunes Realty rented us one with a broken elevator. That's a breach of contract, so we're asking for a refund. We're not asking for pain and suffering, or for reimbursement for the cost of a ruined last vaction or the cost of the airline ticket home for my pain-wracked mother.

Dunes Realty's response is: We're billing you for every day you were there. We don't care that the elevator broke. We don't care that we failed to tell you the elevator was broken. We don't stand by our property descriptions, and don't care if you were misled. We don't care that you didn't get the accomodations you paid for. We don't care that your vacation was ruined. We don't care that you had to shell out $350 for an airline ticket. We don't care that you were loyal customers for over 5 years. We don't care that you've paid us over $20,000. We only care about one thing: You checked in. We're billing you for it. Tough luck.

And just for a second, let me explain how loyal we were as customers:

* We rented $1000-4000 weekly vacations from them several times a year for 5 years. Dunes got 22%.

* When we decided to buy our own vacation condo on the beach, we used a Dunes Realty agent - they got 3 percent.

* When we leased out our own condo to vacation renters, we selected Dunes Realty as our rental manager and paid them 22% of every rental.

This adds up to over $20,000.

All these years. All this loyalty. All that money. And when a problem finally arises, they treat us like total strangers, and act like cheapskate dirtbags.

Below is a description of what happened, and below that is a briefer timeline.

Description of Disputed Charge

On the evening of Wednesday, August 16, my mom and I checked into an oceanfront condominium for a one week vacation rental. We booked this vacation rental through Dunes Realty, Garden City Beach, SC on August 15. The rental was described to me as an oceanfront condominium with a working elevator.

We Ordered and Paid for a Vacation Rental with an Elevator

My mom has terminal cancer and cannot walk up and down stairs, and we made explicitly clear to Dunes that to use the condominium, it had to have a functional elevator. Dunes Realty booked us into unit 207 of the Sea Oaks condominium in Garden City, South Carolina, and assured us the property has a functioning elevator. This was a firm condition of the rental and was understood by Dunes Realty.

Description of Elevator Breakdown

On the afternoon of Sunday, August 20, my mom attempted to take the elevator from ground level to my rented condominium on the building’s 2nd floor. After she entered the elevator and the doors closed, the elevator stopped functioning. The doors would not open. Worse, the emergency call button did not work, either. In South Carolina, call buttons are required to work in even of mechanical failure, power outages, etc. She was trapped in the elevator in 95 degree heat for over one hour without a way of calling for help, other than by yelling and beating on the elevator doors. After approximately 45-60 minutes, a passerby heard her and called the fire department, which rescued her.

Consequences of Elevator Breakdown

The incident caused a major increase in back and rib pain due to the prolonged period she was left standing and beating on the door (she have cancer in my back and ribs). For over 24 hours the elevator was not fixed and she could not leave the unit and go to the beach or anywhere else (not only because the elevator was broken, but because she couldn't use the stairs.) Ultimately she was forced to book an airline ticket back to my home in Dayton, Ohio (on August 22) because the pain in my back and ribs would make a drive back to Ohio impossible. She incurred this unexpected cost myself.

Now, I want to make clear: I'm not blaming Dunes for my mom's cancer. I'm not saying they owed her anything other than what they owe all their customers. I'm not trying to make a nickel off my mom's distress and physical pain, because certainly it would have been a lot less had she been healthy. But I am pointing out that Dunes' lies to us regarding that property's elevator inflicted significant financial and physical costs on both of us. If Dunes had not rented us a broken elevator without telling us, none of this would have happened.

Evidence of Bad Faith?

I contacted the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation (Office of Elevators and Amusement Rides) and was informed that the elevator in this building had failed inspection on August 10 for three reasons:

* Mechanical failure (specifically, a release valve that failed inspection).

* The emergency call button failed inspection.

* The elevator operator license was expired, so the elevator was not even licensed for operation.

Notification was provided to the condominium's management company of this failure to pass inspection on August 15. Dunes Realty was aware, or should have been aware, that the elevator was found to be nonfunctional and unsafe by the State of South Carolina, and that it had not yet been repaired, prior to my booking the unit. They did not tell me of this fact and sold me the vacation rental under a false premise.

Request for Refund

Because I had ordered and paid for a condominium with a functional elevator, and did not receive one, I attempted to arrange a refund from Dunes Realty on the day I checked out in person, and on the telephone beginning Sunday, August 20.

Dunes Realty was obligated to accurately describe the accommodations it rents. Renting a unit in that building to me under the pretense that it included a working elevator was, in my opinion, an act of bad faith because Dunes Realty knew, or should have known, that the elevator was unlicensed, unsafe, and broken. Had I known the elevator was unlicensed and unsafe I would not have booked the unit and my mom would not have found herself stranded with no way to call for help other than yelling and beating on the elevator doors. Dunes Realty refunded only $93 for one day's early departure, even though my mom was unable to leave the unit for all or part of four days, and would not have stayed there at all had we been informed of the building’s elevator’s failure to pass inspection.

Subsequently, Dunes has agreed to refund another 3 days (total of 4) at $93 per day. Ok, getting closer. But interestingly, Dunes is charging us $136 per day for the 3 days they still intend to bill us for. It would seem that the daily refund amount would be identical to the daily rental amount, but Dunes has decided that’s not the case, for reasons that remain a mystery to us and to MasterCard.

In summary, we ordered and paid for a week's vacation rental in a condominium complex with a working elevator, but received a unit with an unlicensed and broken elevator, and suffered as a direct consequence, so we dispute the charges in full and feel a total refund is in order. That's all we want for the misery and hassle - a simple refund. But Dunes is too cheap and disloyal to do even that.

TIMELINE

August 10, 2006

Vacation rental elevator is inspected by the State of South Carolina, and fails for two reasons: mechanical failure, and a nonworking emergency call button. Inspection paperwork is forwarded to the vacation rental’s management company.

August 16

We signed into Dunes Realty, signed the check-in form, and checked into our vacation unit.

August 16-19

We use the elevator, unaware that it was known to be broken and dangerous, and without an emergency call button.

August 20

While my mom is in the elevator and injures herself beating on the doors for help for an hour.

August 20, afternoon

I complain to Dunes Realty. They call back and apologize, weakly. I ask for a refund. They say, no, probably not, but we'll think about it and let you know. They never call back.

August 20-21

* My mom doubles her pain medication and is in intense pain from the strain and stress of screaming and beating the elevator door for help.
* I realize she will be unable to withstand the 12 hour drive back to Ohio.
* I book my mom airline ticket for the next available flight, on August 22. The cost is approximately $350.

August 22

* I take my mom to the airport and check out.
* Dunes “apologizes for the inconvenience” and refuses any refund a single nickel at the checkout desk.
* After about 15 minutes of arguing, they agree to 1 day’s refund.
* I tell them to process it, but that I will demand a full refund later. They refund only $92, less than a full day's rental cost. After I point out that this is far less than 1 day’s rental rate (the full cost was $808.81 for a week), they reluctantly refund the difference.

August 22, 2006 - March 22, 2007

* Since August of last year, we have been grinding through the MasterCard dispute process.
* During that time, at MasterCard’s insistence, Dunes has reluctantly agreed to refund a total of 4 days' rental, but are again only refunding $93 per day, not the correct $115.54 daily prorated amount.
* MasterCard has, as of today, left several messages with Dunes asking for an explanation why. Dunes still claims - seven months later - that their bookkeepers are "working on it."

In Conclusion

Dunes Realty endangered their customers' health and wellbeing by renting units with elevators that were unlicensed and had failed safety inspections.

Dunes Realty lied to us about the condition of this property.

Dunes Realty forced us to make dozens of phone calls to state elevator inspectors, MasterCard, and Dunes themselves before agreeing to more than a portion of 1 day's rental.

Dunes Realty's owner, Roddy Swaim, told me they do not stand by their property descriptions. If you don't get what you paid for and you sign in before inspecting the property, too bad. But what about things like failed safety inspections, which customers have know way of knowing about? According to Dunes Realty - tough. Eat it. You're not going to find out, and they're not going to tell you. Seriously - I asked him this question: Do you even bother to find out things like safety inspections, or whether properties have the facilities you promise? The answer is no. If you sign in, the game is over.

Dunes Realty insulted my intelligence - at one point, Roddy Swaim asked me, "Didn't your mother use the elevator before it broke?" And I said, of course she did - she didn't know at that point that the elevator was malfunctioning and unsafe (but still, temporarily, moving between floors). Well, Roddy said, then you got what you paid for. NICE.

This is like selling a gun that shoots off bullets spontaneously, and refusing a refund until it actually goes off on you. "Hey, the gun didn't shoot you yet, so why are you bothering me with your refund requests?"

http://www.dunes.com

1-888-889-0312

128 Atlantic Avenue
Garden City Beach, SC 29576

sales@dunes.com
admin@dunes.com
acct@dunes.com
propcare@dunes.com
golf@dunes.com
reservations@dunes.com
beachvacations@dunes.com
doddb@dunes.com
laural@dunes.com
jrswaim@dunes.com

Interesting Side Note:

I complained to the Better Business Bureau. They turned me down. It turns out, the chairman of the local BBB is a former (possibly a current) close business partner of Roddy Swaim's. How convenient.

Avoid Dunes Realty of Garden City Beach, South Carolina!

An account of a royal screwing we allege we received at the hands of Dunes Realty in Garden City, South Carolina will be posted here shortly...stay tuned!